■\w»g&sag;gg|!' 



E 310 
.T53 
Copy 1 



iiiBiiiiiiiiii 




Glass. 
Book. 



Ts;^ 



/ 

THE 



THREE PATRIOTS; 



OK. 



THE CAUSE AND CUBE 



o.y 



PRESENT EVILS. 



ADDRESSED TO THE 



FOTERB OF MAM-YILANB. 



'Baltimore : 

PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 

B> Edesy printer. 

1811. 



rrs^ 



THE 



THREE PATRIOTS ; 



OR, 



THE CAUSE AND CURE OF PRESENT EVILS. 



OUR country presents to the view of an observer a most 
extraordinary and singular spectacle ; raised in the short 
space of twelve years, from a state of almost universal bank- 
ruptcy and national weakness, to a high degree of wealth and 
national consideration ; and, in less than the ten next succeeds 
ing years, reduced to a worse condition than that from which 
it had been raised. 

It is my intention in the following pages, 1st, to trace the 
progress of the causes by which it has been depressed, and 
then, 2dly, to show by what simple means it may be restored 
^o its once enviable situation. 

iFith respect to the first head. 

To trace the causes which have reduced our country to its 
present situation, it is necessary we should revert to the time 
when our constitution was submitted to the people for their 
adoption or rejection. The Americans of that day had 
fvT light side by side, and by their army and efforts achieved 
their liberty and independence. Attached alike to the same 
principles of governme7it when the constitution was discussed, 
they only differed, as a writer of the times well observed, 
about the mode of organizing its parts and arranging its 
powers. After a severe struggle, the constitution Avas re- 



4 

ceived as it came from the hands of the convention, and 
General Washington elected president. During this contest, 
jts advocates were distinguished by the term of federalists, 
its opposers by that of anti-federalists. 

The first congress had proceeded but a little way in the 
career of legislation, when it became evident to observers ,; 
that the anti-federalists (then the minority in that body) had 
determined on getting the government wholly into their own 
hands. As a means to arrive at this end, new party names 
were sought for and invented, which, being applied as terms 
of reproach, should inflame the minds of the ignorant against 
men hitherto without reproach. The anti-federalists thence- 
forth represented their opponents as monarchists and aristo- 
crats, whose object it was, " to impose on the people the 
substance, as they had already the form of the British go- 
vernment," and themselves as democrats or patriots, whose 
sole vv'ish was to preserve the constitution from such impu- 
rity. 

A brisk traffic was now (fommenced with the terms monar- 
chist and aristocrat, and a thousand minute arts and small 
pedlars were employed to carry them from door to door, and to 
the most remote nooks and corners of the union. 

Those v/ho introduced the use of theee terms, well knew 
iheir inapplicability to the vieM's of the parties they were 
intended to designate, but they knew also that the many arc 
always more ready to believe than to examine. Let us now 
attend to their real import, in order to determine v/ith what 
propriety they are applied. 

A democracy^ according to the best writers, is a govern- 
ment where the people collectively^ or successively in small 
bodies, assemble at certain periods, to enact laws; a majority 
of the whole votes of the state deciding, as was practised at 
Athens and other independent cities in Greece — An aristo- 
cracy where the power of making laws and trying oifenees is 
lodged excluswdy with the rich or vobles—A. monarchij 
\vhere the supreme power is lodged in a sing'le perso7i» 



tt is evident that the government of the United States be- 
longs to neither of these forms. It is not a democracy, for 
the people cannot enact laws in a body or seriatim, by a ma- 
jority of their own votes; but in as much as they e/ec? per- 
sons who 7nake the laxvSy it partakes of the principles of de- 
mocracy. It is not an aristocracy^ for the rich exclusively 
have no right to make laws ; but as it vests the law-making- 
power under restrictions in citizens of certain ages, to be 
chosen by the people, and excludes from the exercise of this 
power, all under the prescribed age, so far it partakes of the 
principle of aristocracy. Lastly, it is not a monarchy, for 
the president is not the depositarij of the supreme power; \n 
as much, however, as he is vested with certain kingly prero- 
gatives, the government, so far participates in the principle 
of monarchy. It follows that our government is neither the 
one nor the other. What then is it ? A federative republic ; 
federative, because composed of several states iudependant 
in certain respects, and united in others; a republic, because 
made up of the principles of different forms, the name given 
to all mixed governments by that great master in politics, 
Aristotle. Hence Mr. Jefferson, in a moment of sincerity, 
declared to the people " We have called, by different names, 
brethren of the same principle. Wc are all federalists — Vv'c 
are all republicans."* 

As our constitution of government then, is neither an ar- 
istocracy, monarchy, nor democracy, no citizen, without of- 
fending against its nature, can call himself a monarchist, ar- 
istocrat or democrat. 

To dissipate the error which has given currency to thesr 
terms is of great importance, in as mucli us any change in 
the proportion of the blended poweis of the constitution (an 
easy result from their use) must lead to its destruction. The 
fate of a hundred republics might be cited to convince you 
of this truth ; but instead of tiring you with examples, I 
shall relate a short anecdote or dialogue. 

* See his inausrural sneecl* 



6 

The day the convention finished their labours, and befora 
the constitution was promulgated, Dr. Franklin, who was £t 
member of that body, met with Mrs. Powel, of Philadelphia, 
a lady remarkable for her understanding and wit. 

" Well, Doctor," said the lady on his entering the room, 
" We are happy to see you abroad again : pray what have we 
got?" " A republic, madam, if you can keep it." " And 
why not keep a good thing," said the lady, " when we have 
got it ?" " Because madam," replied the Doctor, " there is 
in all republics a certain ingredient, of which the people hav- 
ing once tasted, think they can never get enough." 

Observe, I pray you, how the doctor's warning has been 
verified in France. The people of that country, not aware 
of the march of democracy, thought they saw the dawn of 
liberty in the demolition of the Bastile. When the king was 
removed from Versailles to Paris amidst the exclamations of 
fish women, it seemed to them to approach nearer day. He 
Was beheaded ; monarchic and aristocratic blood ran in 
streams from the guillotine in every quarter of the kingdom ; 
then the sun of liberty ascended to the horizon. The reign 
of Robespierre took place : this too, was to increase its efful- 
gence. The christian Sabbath was abolished, the Tiai'a 
trampled under foot, and the Pope dragged from Rome and 
marched triumphantly into France. This procedure was 
strange, but still it was applauded. One constitution follow„ 
ed fast on the heels of another, the last always the best. One 
set of patriots deposed another set, the last always the great- 
est patriots. At length Bonaparte became the depositary of 
the peoples' rights, first as consul and last as emperor. 

Reflect, my fellow citizens, I beseech you, upon these 
events. Where is the democratic show and scenery, that 
glittered on the shores of France, that dazzled your eyes 
and bewildered your imaginations ? Vanished into air. 
Where the sun of liberty ? Set. The temple of reason ? De- 
stroyed. The imprescriptible rights of man ? No where to 
be found. All that you delighted in seeing torn up by the 
roots, as monarchic and aristocratic, you behold again re- 



placed in their most dreaded forms, by a tyrant \vhose rutlf 
finger bears heavier on a wretched people, than the loins of 
all their former monarchs. 

Whilst the impression of these images yet harrowed th? 
imagination, and the usurpation of Bonaparte inflamed the 
mind alm©st to madness against tyrants, Mr. Jefferson pro- 
claimed in a message to congress *' France has an enlighten- 
ed government." 

If we would secure our government from the fate of alt 
its predecessors, we must unite our endeavours to preserve 
its principles in their well adjusted proportions, and be care- 
ful not to add one grain more of democracy to its ingredi- 
ents. 

Examine, now, I pray you, with as little pi-epossess ion as 
possible, the character and actions of those men you have 
been taught to look upon as " the advocates of aristocracy, 
monarchy, hereditary succession, a titled nobility, and all 
the mock pageantry of kingly government." Some are your 
neighbours, others your acquaintantance. Many you have 
known from childhood. Can you point to an individual 
among them, who has endeavoured to instil into you a love 
for a monarchy or aristocracy, or who has laboured to disgust 
you with your constitution ? Be candid ; have those \^ ho 
advocated the adoption of the government, done any act 
since, which evinces an abatement of attachment to it ? Arr. 
they not (as many of them are still living) the same now that 
they were then, devoted to the constitution, and inimical only 
to whatever would alter it in its principles or form. Look 
now to those calling themselves democrats ; pay the same 
attention to their way of thinking, and you Avill not discover, 
perhaps one among them who understands the meaning of 
the term and is not under the influence of sinister views, 
that would willingly agree to exchange the government lor a 
democracy. Let this scrutiny be conducted dispassionately, 
and my life for it, you will be convinced, that excepting de 
magogues and office-hunters, wlio are readv to sacrifice every 



8 

thing to advance their purposes, native Americans are '^ \lt. 
federalists all republicans." 

Why then you ask, have certain men of acknowleuged un- 
derstanding (whom you could name) taken such pains to in- 
duce the multitude to believe that all federalists were mo- 
narchists in disguise. 

I have already observed that after the adoption of the con- 
stitution, the reins of goverment were placed by the suffrages 
of the people in the hands of the federalists. We had at 
tliat time, as we have now, certain ambitious men who 
thirsted after power, and were determined at whatever 
price, to obtain it. To oust the federalists from the govern- 
ment it was indispensable to destroy their character by pre- 
senting them to the public under aspects calculated to effect 
this object. The moment this was determined on, is the 
date of me party terms monarchist and aristocrat. At first 
these appellations were used sparingly and bestowed only on 
a few leading federalists, when an unexpected occurrence 
brought into action the Vk'hole machinery of party. 

Many of you will recollect that in the summer of 1790, 
president Washington was seised with a disorder which 
threatened his life. Whispers now began to circulate re- 
i^pecting a successor. Among the candidates talked of was 
Mr. Jefferson. From this time the opposition considered 
him their chief. From this time new Gazettes w^re seen 
to start up in different parts of the Union, all diffusing sen«- 
timcnts of a similar tendency as if animated by the same 
mind. 

Perhaps no one person that has figured on the American 
political theatre is better acquainted than Mr. Jefferson with 
the powers of the press, whether applied to unsettle the minds 
of a people in matters of religion or goveniment. His resi- 
dence in France, and his association while there, with Con- 
vjorcet and others, the allies of Voltaire, in the great work 
then going forward against government and religion, had 
initiated him into all its mysteries. He had left the French 
news papers and pamphlets, issued under their direction, in 





the full tide of successful experiment, and he had seen as 
he himself tells a friend " three insurrections'' in that coun- 
try " in the three years he had been diere."* His skill 
gave system to opposition, his science settled with unfeel- 
ing precision the principles which were to render our fairest 
characters suspected, and virtue itself odious in the eyes of 
the multitude. 

This system, as you will soon perceive, met with the ut- 
most exactitude, the wishes of France. Whatever France 
did, it approved. Whatever France desired, it was ready 
to grant. One establishment only was warning to render 
its efficacy certain. A paper to which every other should 
look for the signals that were to direct their several ma- 
noeuvres. Mr. Philip Freneau a man of some literary repu- 
tation being fixed on as a fit person to conduct such a paper, 
was accordingly attracted from New York to Philadelphia, 
and placed by Mr. Jefferson in the Department of State as 
a translator of foreign languages at a salary of two hundred 
dollars per annum. Such was his ostentible appointment, 
but his real business the editing of a newspaper which immc- 
diately appeared under the imposing title of the Natloiral 
Gazette. 

This Gazette, the first pensioned newspaper ui the Unit- 
ed States since the adoption of the Federal Government, con- 
tinued in existence from the 31st of October, 1791, till Mr. 
Jefferson retired from office in 1794. And though conduct- 
ed under the eijC of this officer^ it does not exhibit through- 
out its numerous pages one solitary paragraph in praise of 
the freest government in the world, on the contrary they are 
filled with misrepresentations and abuse of the measures and 
motives of the majority of both Houses of Congress, invec- 
lives against the heads of the Treasury and War Depart- 
ments and the most virulent calumnies of the president 

• The extracts of a letter containing this information a-e dated 
20th December, 1787. They were read by Mr. INIadison In the 
Virginia convention and afterwardii published. 



10 

^iimself, all tending in their tenor and object to produce na- 
tional disgrace, insignificance and disorder. 

In September 1792, the Boston Chronicle (an antifederal 
paper conducted by Mr. Adams) recommended a general 
perusal of this Gazette to the people oi' New England in the 
ibllosving words : " As the friends of civil liberty wish at all 
times to be acquainted with every question which appears to 
regard the public weal, a great number of gentlemen, in this 
;md the neighbouring towns, have subscribed for the Na- 
tional Gazette, published by Mr. Philip Freneau at Phila- 
delphia. And it is hoped, that Freneau 's Gazette, which 
'iS said to be printed under the eye of that established pa-- 
ir'iot and republican, Thomas Jefferson, will be generally 
taken in the New England states." 

Genet's arrival in this country in 1795, gave a new spring- 
to this class of papers. " To draw the United States into 
the war against England, was the great object of his mission; 
and in case he found the American Executive not suffciently 
Tjielding^ he was- to employ tho people^ (as had been done in 
other countries,) to overthrow that department, or 
oblige it to be subservient to their plans ^^ Such were his in- 
structions. How faithfully he followed them we shall shev;- 
from public documents which are open for every person tc 
-consult. 

" On the declaration of war between France and England, 
the United States being at peace with both, their situation 
was so new and unexperienced by themselves, that their ci- 
tizens were not in the first instar.ce sensible of the new du- 
ties resulting therefrom and of the restraints it would im- 
pose even on their dispositions towards the belligerent 
powers, So'.Tse of them imagined (and chiefly their tran- 
sient sea faring citizens,) that they were free to indulge 
their dispositions, to take side with either party, and en- 
rich themselves by depredations on the commerce of the 

* See his private instructions published by himself in his justi 
fiL-itinn. December, 1793, 



11 

■ether, and were meditating enterprises of this nature, as 
there was reason to believe. In this state of the public 
mind, and before it should take an erroneous direction dif- 
ficult to be set right, and dangerous to themselves, and 
their country, the president thought it expedient, through 
the channel of a proclamation, to remind our fellow citi- 
zens, that we were in a state of peace with all the bellige- 
rent powers ; that in that state it was our c^ity, neither to 
«id nor injure any; to exhort and warn them against acts 
which might contravene this duty, and pai'ticularly those 
of positive hostility, for the punishment of which the laws 
would be appealed to ; and to p;;t them on their gaurd also 
as to the risk they would run, if they should rv.ttempt to car- 
ry contraband articles to any. This proclamation was or- 
dered on the 19th, and signed on the 22d of April, (1793). 
" On the day of its publication the president received 
through the channel of the newspapers the first intimation, 
that Mr. Genet had arrived on the 8di of the month at 
Charleston, in character of minister plenipotentiary, from 
his nation to the United States, and soon after that he had 
sent on to Philadelphia, the vessel in which he came, -and 
would himself perform the journey by land. His landing 
at one of the most distant ports of the Union, from his points 
both of departure and destination, was calculated to excite 
attention, and very soon afterwards we learnt, that he was 
undertaking to authorise the fitting and arming vessels in 
that port, enlisting men, foreigners and citizens, and giv- 
ing them commissions to cruise and commit hostilities on 
nations at peace with us ; that these vessels were taking and 
bringing prizes into our ports ; that the consuls of France 
were assuming to hold courts of admirality on them, to 
ivVy condemn, and authorise their sale as legal prize ; and 
all this before Mr. Genet liad presented himself, or his cre- 
dentials to the president, before he was received by him, 
without his consent or consultation, and directly in contra- 
vention of the state of peace existing and declared to cxh 
.n the pr^esidcnts proclamation, and incumbent on him tc- 



12 

preserve till the constitutional authority should otherv\'isc 
declare."* 

Geaet htld for sound doctrine, " that the French enjoyed 
a right to arm in our ports, and to inlist our citizens, and 
that government had no right to restrain them — ^That our 
courts could take no cognizance of questions whether ves- 
sels held by the French as prizes, were lawful or not ; that 
the jurisdiction belonged exclusive to the French consulate 
in America — That the English had no right under the laws 
to take French property out of American vessels, and that 
the president had undertaken to decide by his proclamation 
of neutrality, what belonged to the decision of congress, and 
that congress ought to have been convened for the purpose of 
making such decision, f 

In favour of those doctrines so destructive of the sove- 
reignty of the nation and against the proclamation o-f neu- 
trality, JNIr. Jefferson's Gazette took a decided stand, repro- 
bating that wise and necessary measure in the most scurri- 
lous terms, and charging the president with the commission 
of an illegal act^ and a flagrant violation of the constitution. 

This paper did not stop here. Two Americans having 
been prosecuted for violating the neutrality, by entering on 
board a French privateer, it accused the president of cruelly 
and illegally imprisoning innocent men, " for having gene- 
rously torsook their country to assist the cause of liberty in 
Trance. 

Again, on the 20th July, under the signature of Juba ; 
" I hope the minister of France will act with firmness and 
with spirit : the people are his friends^ or the friends of 
France, and he will have nothing to apprehend, for as yet 
the people are the sovereigns of the United States." 

To aid this war upon the government other papers were 

* See letter to Mr. Morris at Paris, reqniring the recall of Mr 
Genet. 

+ See Genet s letters to the secretary of state, published by oj> 
^er of conajress. 



io 

inllsted. Bache's General Advertiser (now the Aurora) un- 
der the signature of " a Jacobin" affirmed " it was no lon- 
ger possible to doubt the intention of the executive was to 
look upon the treaty of France as a nullity, and that the go- 
vernment was preparing to join the league of kings against 
France." The Boston Chronicle (the paper before men- 
Honed) also declared " all opposition to Genet to be the 
voice of toryism proclaimed by the organs of aristocracy." 

When the impropriety of keeping in his oiTice the editor of 
a newspaper thus incessantly employed against the govern- 
ment was urged upon the friends of Mr. JefTerson, the only 
apology they offered was, " ?»Ir. Jefferson could not, in a 
free country, controul the publication of any paper," when it 
was added, " he surely at least had it in his power to put an 
end to the connection between them, by dismissing him :' 
this it was said, " would be to punish a man for his inde- 
pendence." 

It cannot be supposed that the president could remain In- 
sensible to these attempts to produce disorder in the govern.- 
ment, and rob him of the affections of the people. In pub- 
lic, it is true, he noticed them not, but in a private letter to 
general Lee, then governor of Virginia, he shews that he 
felt them, " for the result says he, as it respects myslf, I 
care not. I have a consolation within, of which no earthly 
efforts can deprive me ; and that is, that neither ambitious 
nor interested motives have influenced my conduct. The 
arrows of malevolence therefore, however barbed and poin- 
ted, can never reach my most valuable part ; though whilst 
I am up as a })iark, they will be continually aiming at me. 
The publications in Freneaii's and Bachs^s papers, are outra- 
ges on common decency ; and they progress in that style in 
proportion as their pieces are treated with contempt, and 
passed over with silence by those against whom they are di- 
rected. Their tendency, however, is too obvious to be mis- 
taken by men of cool and dispassionate minds : and in my 
opinion ought to alarm them; because it is difficult to pre 
scribe bounds to their effect." 



14 

The president submitted to his cabinet in 1^93^ a set oi 
Queries, previous to Genet's arrival, the answers to which 
were to enable him to form a system for regulating the ge- 
neral conduct of the United States towards the belligeients. 

These queries with some of the answers to them found 
their way into Bache's paper, and its confederate prints, and 
gave rise to a series of essays, from which was poured out 
the most bitter invectives against the president. 

As this state-paper was entirely confidential, Mr. Jeffer- 
son some years after, addressed a letter to the president, to 
exculpate himselt from having had any agency in its publica- 
tion. The answer to this letter, after relieving Mr. Jeffer- 
son from the heavy charge of perfidy, concludes with these 
memorable words : " To this I may add, and very truly, 
that until the last year or two, I had no conception that par- 
ties would, or even cduld go the lengths I have been witness : 
nor did I believe until lately, that it was within the bounds of 
probability, hardly within those of possibility, that while I 
was using my utmost exertions to establish a national charac- 
ter of our own. Independent as far as our obligations and jus- 
tice would permit, of every nation of the earth ; and wished 
by steering a steady course, to preserve this country from 
the horrors of a dessolating war, I should be accused of be- 
ing the enemy of one nation and subject to the influence of 
another ; and to prove it, that every act of my administration 
would be tortured, and the grossest and most insidious mis- 
representations of them made, by giving one side only oi 
a subject, and that too, in such exaggerated and indecent 
terms as could scarcely be applied to a. Nero — to a notorious 
defaulter — or even to a common pick-pocket.'' 

Would that it were possible, I could here describe Mr. Jef- 
fersons feelings on reading this letter. That they were only 
momentary is most probable, for his newspaper machinery, 
. intermitted not for a day its accustomed avocations. 

Mr. Jefferson at rhis time, pretended to lead the life of a 
philosopher. Far abstracted from the world, on the heights 
'of MonticellO; even newspapers were forbidden entrance in* 



15 

fO his retirement, lest thpy might disturb the tranquil hours 
of contemplatiton. This deceived some ; but it was soon ma- 
nifest that, what he had sown he intended to reap. The 
newspapers which had received from his hand their origi- 
nal impulse, he still continued to direct. In 1796, three 
vears after this fictitious seclusion from all political concerns, 
he was elected vice president, having lost the presidency but 
by two votes. 

On the day (fourth of March) general Washington retired 
fi"om office, his successor Mr. Adams, as president, and Mr. 
Jefferson as vice president, delivered each an inaugural, 
speech before the senate. Mr. Jefferson on this occasion, 
speaking of Mr. Adams says, '* no one more sincerely prays 
that no accident may call me to the higher and more impoi*- 
tant functions which the constitution eventually devolves up- 
on this office. These have been justly confided to the emi- 
nent cliaracter who has preceded me here, whose talents and 
integrity have been known and revered by me through a long 
course of years ; have been tlie foundation of a cordial and 
uninterrupted friendship between us ; and I devoutly pray 
he may be long preserved for the government, the happiness 
and prosperity of our common country." 

These words of Ivonied import, were well received by 
Mr. Adams, but believed by no one else. A commentary 
that could not be misunderstood, was soon after given to the 
public. 

Bache's paper had succeeded to Freneau's, but Bache 
without help was weak, but wiljing. Mr. Duane was now 
in Philadelphia, and had exhibited his talents in a defama-' 
tory letter to general Wahington upon his farewell address, 
under the fictitious signature of Jasper Dwight. This per- 
formance, in which the president was grossly abused, and 
some biting paragraphs which had appeared in Bache's papcr^ 
brought him into notice. Starving however in Philadelphia, 
he contemplated removing to Pittsburgh. To keep him 
where he was, Mv. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and about a 
doz;en of their friends entered into a subscription, deemecl 



16 

by hiiu at t'iiat time, ample compensation for his labours, in 
has dispute (in 1802) with Callender for quarrelling with 
Mr. Jefferson, Duane was induced to part with his secret, 
in order to recover the merit of certain paragraphs that this 
hireling scribe had claimed a right in. Touching this sub- 
ject Duane observes, in a reply to Callender, published 
first September, 1802 ; " For the satisfaction of others, I will 
further explain the origin of the subscription which was enter- 
ed into by about twenty individuals in Philadelphia. The 
origin of the subscription was wholly personal, calculated to 
detain me in this city, under the impression that / could ren- 
der more essential service than in the western parts of the 
state,'^ 

A {c\v samples will be sufficient to convey to the reader 
an idea of the kind of services he was paid to render. 

The day general Washington retired from the presidency 
is noticed in the Aurora in the following strain of profani- 
ty and abuse. " Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart 
in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation,'* was the 
pious ejaculation of a man who beheld a flood of happiness 
rushing in upon mankind : if ever there was a time that 
would licence the reiteration of the exclamation, that time 
is how arrived, for the man who is the source of all the 
misfortunes of our country, is this day reduced t?D a level 
with his fellow citizens, and is no longer possessed of 
power to multiply evils upon the United States. If ever 
there was a period for rejoicing, this is the moment. Eve- 
ry heart in unison with the freedom and happiness of the 
people ought to beat high with exultation, that the name of 
Washington from this day ceases to give currency to politi- 
cal iniquity, and to legalise corruption. A new lera is open- 
ing upon us, an asra that promises much to the people, for 
public measures must now stand upon their own merits, and 
nefarious projects can no longer be supported by a name. 
When a retrospect is taken of the Washington administra- 
tion for eight years, it is a subject of the greatest astonish- 
ment, that a single individual could have cajikered the priu 



17 
#•" 

eiples of republicanism in an enlightened people, and bhoaid 
have carried his designs against the public liberty, so far as 
to have put in jeopardy its very existence. Such however 
are the facts, and widi these staring us in the face, this day 
ought to be a jubilee in the United States." 

I would not swear this was written, thowgh cLiimed hy 
Duane. It is enough to know v/ho paid for it and for whoiu 
It was written. 

That eminent character, long known and revered for taf 
Icnts and integrity, and for whos]^ life a solemn prayer was 
offered i^p before the assembled people, " that it might be 
long preserved for the government, the Ijappinesg and pros- 
perity of our common country," is thus noticed in the same 
paper. " America, whether she will or no, is destined to 
occupy a superior station at no very distant period in the 
sublunary drama; and truly it would be ludicrous to sup- 
pose that the querelous and cankered murmurs of blind, bald, 
crippled, toothless Adams, or the venal machinations of the 
executive tide waiters, cake catchers, uicat mongers, bub- 
ble gulpers, Sewalls^Otis's, &c. can have any other effect than 
CO afford additional and experimental proof of th.9 folly of 
trusting such men with power." 

The treatment of our ministers by Fi-ance in 1797, an4 
1798, the general and indignant sensation it excited through- 
out the United States, cannot be forgotten. On this occa- 
sion Mr. Jefferson wrote to his correspondents in various 
parts of the country, suggesting to them, that the Aurorq 
was in danger of suffering from its attachment to the cause 
of France, and recommending :x patriotic jffort to be madf 
iu its favour. A hint being given in the Gazette of the 
United States of this attempt to procure for it new and ^d? 
Qitional subscribers,* there immediately came out in the 
Aurora an avowal and boast of his patronage. 

Mr. Jefferson's next ascertained purchase was of Callen-? 
der, for his book entitled, " The Prospect b,efore U§,'' pi^g 
lushed in the year 1800. 

♦ J\ine 17ft3. 



18 

The letters he addressed to Callender which substantiate 
this fact, M'ere lodged by him, for inspection, in the office of 
the Virginia Gazette, in Richmond, in 1802, and nubhshed 
in most of the federal papers of that day In Mr. Jefferson's 
letters to Callender, dated Monticello, 6th September, 1 799j 
he informs him " Mr. Jefferson (his brother) happens to be 
here, and directs his agent to call on you with this, and pay 
vou fifty dollars on account of the book you are about to pub- 
lish. When it shall be out, be so good as to send me two or - 
three copies, and the rest only when I shall ask for them." 
In his next, dated 6th October, 1799, "• I thank you for the 
proof sheets you inclosed me. Such papers cannot fail to pro- 
duce the best effect. They inform the thinking part of the 
nation, and they again, supported by the tax gatherers, as 
their vouchers, set the people to righto.' 

As this book may not be in many of your hands, the fol- 
lowing quotations from it may serve to give you an idea of 
the nature of the " papers which were to produce the best ef- 
fect, and set the people to rights." 

Callender begins with shewing that " the federal constitu- 
tion was crammed down the gullet of America." 

After noticing certain arguments v/hich he says were used 
to procure its adoption, he adds " thus the five principal in- 
ducements to accept the constitution are proved by common 
sense, or experience, to have been absolutely chimerical, 
and nothing better than hobbyhorses." 

" Hence it follows that the new government was only 
preferred by a part of the people." " In Virginia this con- 
stitution met not only with violent, but- with at least equi- 
ponderant opposition. In all the other states the people were 
greatly divided. All the atrocious artifices common at an 
orclinary election, were exerted in support of it. The five 
main articles advanced in its favour have, as above, been se- 
parately ive'ighed in the balance- and found wanting". That 
the federal system had been embraced bv the whole people 
never was, nor could be pretended. Yet the first federal 



19 

congress met in defiance of the constitution then existing." 
" They met on the ruins of the old constitution, and sacri- 
ficed a variety of rights hitherto held as inviolable. They 
met, whe.i, out of the tiiirteen states, eleven only had acceded 
to the union." 

" TKis goverment met with long and violent resistance 
to its ajoption. In Virginia it was carried by eighty nine 
votes against twenty one. From ten to thirteen of the ma- 
jo; -iLy, have long since repented of their vote. Most oi 
thos(_ tvUs predicted in the debates at Richmond, have been 
minutdy luiuiled. As for what a federal senate was to be- 
come, George Mason foretold the whole. In JMassachu- 
setts the federal question was carried by 178 against 168. 
Georgia was poor and helpless. Her delegates v/ere unan- 
imous for adoption. They did not foresee die Washing 
ton plan of defending or rather deserting the south-western 
frontiers. In New York the constitution was accepted by 
30 voices against 25. In Rhode Island, by a majority of 
two. In North Carolina it was at first rejected by a large 
majority." 

" The longer we examine, the harder we shall find it to 
prove what America gained by this government." 

These sentiments could not fail of being acceptable to Mr. 
Jefferson ; for if not still anti-federal, he had been unques- 
tionably opposed to the constitution., in some of its most im- 
portant features, so much so, as to have discountenanced its 
adoption altogether without previous amendments.* 

Again. " But worst of all general Washington himself, 
consented to officiate, in a government which he flatly de- 
clares to have been an usurpation* For on March the Sd, 
1789, when the congress first assembled, they bore about 
them every feature that corresponds with the definition of 
traitors, as just quoted from Mr. Washington himself, (his 

* See partial extracts from Mr. Jefferson's letters dated Paris, 
1788 and 1789, published by a friend with a view to his vindi- 
cation. 



toewell address.) Sach is the consistency of his tlieoiy vv'iih 
his practice. — The farewell address conveys an explicit cen" 
sure not only upon the new government but likewise upoii 
the American revolution ,* for that also was accomplished 
by a part of the people, in despite of the rest, and in breach 
e?f what is called the British constitution. By his own ac- 
count^ therefore,' Mr. Washington has been twice a traitoro 
He first renounced the King of England, and thereafter the 
old confederation. This farewell paper contains a variety of 
mischievous sentiments." " By the way it is incomprehensi- 
ble how Mr. Washington came to think he had any call to 
write such a letter." 

This same farewell letter, as before noted, was attacked 
by Duane under the signature of Jasper Dwight, who was 
rewardad like Callender^ and by the same hand^ Why 
these repeated attempts upon this legacy, as it is called, of 
the excellent Washington ? Gallender acknowledges " it was 
i-eceived in America with general rapture." Why did he 
not yield to his judgment, rather than his necessities, and 
acknowledge also, that a strict adherence to what it advises, 
and avoidance of what it condemns can alone insure happiness 
to the people and perpetuity to the union. To return to 
our quotations. 

" The extravagant popularity possessed by this citizeri 
(general Washington) reflects the utmost ridicule on the 
discernment of America. He approved of the funding sys- 
tem, the assumption, the national bank, and in contradiction 
of his own solemn promise, he authorised the robbery and 
jfuin of the remnant of his own army*." 

" Under the old confederation, matters never were, nor 
could have been conducted so wretchedly, as they actually 
are, and have been under the successive monarchs of Brain- 
tree and Mount Vernon." 

" For the first four years the ch.ief employment both of 
Hamilton and congress was to break the constitution. 

*' For entering into a commercial treaty with England^ 



21 

getting it accepted by two thirds of the senate and puLlisliitig 
it as the law ot the land, before the subject had ever come 
before die House of Representatives, he (president Washing-- 
ton) could not have committed a more net and pure violation 
of his oath to preserve the constitution, and of his ofRcial 
trust." 

" The wretched proclamation of neutrality of April 22, 
1 793, was most likely communicated to Pitt^ long before it 
was openly proposed in the cabinet of America." 

" The proclamation of neutrality does not deserve that 
title. It was a proclamation of ignorance and pusillani- 
mity." 

Again. " The name of Jefferson appears at the bottom of 
the proclamation of neutrality, but we must not from 
thence infer that he approved, of it»" 

" The tardiness and timidity of Washington were succeed- 
ed by the rancour and insolence of Mr. Adams." 

" Mr; Adams has only completed the scene of ignominy 
which Mr. Washington began." 

" Foremost in what is detestable, Mr. Adams f:e!s anxi- 
et^' to curb the frontier population." 

" Instead of making so much needless noise v/liile in oi- 
fice, Mr. Adams ought to be as calm as he can be. VvV 
must admit that he is president of the union, but we canno" 
forget the way in which he become so." Then follows an 
enumeration of his crimes in the eyes of the writer. " When 
you have digested these reflections contemplate the history 
of the present year, think what you have been, what yo;. 
are, and what under the monarch of Massachusetts, you ar:: 
Tike to become." 

We now approach to the burthen of the books 

Overlooking Mr. Jefferson's long friendship fcr ^Ir. 
Adams, as Duane had done, forgetful of his prayer that he 
might be long preserved for the government, the happinccs 
and prosperity of their common country, he calls out, 
" with these reflections vou will look forwr.rd to October.^ 



22 

1800. You will then as Tacitus expresses it, think of your 
ancestors and your posterity. You will then take your choice 
bctweeu innocence and guilt, between Ireedom and slavery, 
between paradise and perdition. You will choose between 
tlie m.\n who has deserted and reversed all his principles 
and that man 

*•* Whose own example strengthens all his laws. That 
man whose predictions like those of Henry, have been con- 
verted into history. You will choose between that man 
whose life is unspotted by a crime, and thai man whose 
hands are reeking with the blood of the poor friendless Con- 
necdcut sailor ! I see the tear starting on your cheeks. 
You anticipate the name of John Adams." 

By such means :\s these, the choice spirits which had op- 
pos.ed the adoption of the constitution were reanimated 
ag;iinst it, and all who were its advocates ; and all who had 
administered the government, rendered suspected and odi- 
ous in the eyes of the people. By such means Mr. Jefferson 
was at length lifted into the presidency. 

Who are those men that stand silent and apart, branded 
as " monarchists, aristocrats, public plunderers and trai- 
tors ; and he of elevated port proclaimed " a Icgaliser of 
corruption," that " carried his designs against public liberty 
so far as to put in jeopardy its ver}- existence ?" Are they 
not the very men who fought and bled for liberty, who toiled 
to frame for you a free government ; who exercised its pow- 
ers so as to extend the fame and commerce of our coimtr\' 
far beyond its boundaries : and is not that noble figure at 
their head, the immortal Washington ! me thinks I hear a 
murmur among you. " Yes," they are sounds of regret and 
sorrow. I knevr that an indulgent people would render jus- 
tice to the dead and the living, that sooner or later, they 
would acknowledge them the authors of that flourishing 
commerce, that general prosperity and that national consi- 
deration which a different set of aetors have so nearly de« 
-troved. 



23 

The rulers of France under every change of her govern- 
ment, have considered the United States as a kind of depen- 
dency torn by their arms from Great Britain, which thev 
had a right to use as their policy or interest dictated. 

In no instance has France, regal, republican, or imperial, 
done aught to promote the interests of this countr}' with 
other view than as it promoted her own. 

It was not till 1779, more than a year and an half after 
our declaration of independence, and after we had de'hivelif 
proved by the battles of 1775, 1776 and 1777, oxxr abilitif to 
maintain it, this independence was acknowledged by France 
and a treaty of alliance formed with her. 

From this period, France endeavoured to identify hcrfelf, 
as it were, with our national councils and so far succeeded as 
to obtain from congress a resolution by which our ministers 
were instructed, in the formation of treaties, to be guided by 
*' the advice of the French court.'' 

With this authority over the most precious concerns of our 
countr}', while we were labouring to strengthen our inierest 
by treaties vrith other nations, she was obstructing our efforts 
by artifice and intrigue, with a view to confine our inter- 
course to those states v.hose governments were subject to 
her direction. 

We have the concurrent testimony of Dr. Frank".n. 
Mr. Jay, and jMr, Adams, that, during the negociationji 
which led to the treaty of 1783, with Great Britain, she 
countenanced our enemy in requiring the insertion of an of- 
fensive article, and afterwards, by her sub-agents here, made 
this vtry article the instrument of discontent avd faction. 
She also endeavoured to deprive us of a great extent of our 
territory, and to exclude us aitogetlier, form the fisheiy on 
the grand bank of New Foundlacd. 

In reference to these facts, the national convention of 
France, informs their minister Genet, in his instructions 
dated the 4th Januarj', 1793.* 

• These instructions were published by Genet, in December 
1793, io rindioation of his extriortlinary measures 



£4. 

•^^ The executive council has called for the instructiuns 
given to citizen Genet's predecessors in America, and has 
seen in them, with indignation, that at the very time the 
good people of America expressed their gratitude to us 
in the most feeling maner, and gave us every pi-oof of their 
friendship, Vergennes and Montmorin thought thatit.wa£ 
right for France to hinder the United States from taking 
that political stability of v/hich they were capable ; because 
they would soon acquire a strength, which, it was probable 
they would be eager to abuse." '^ The same Machiavelian 
principle influenced the operations of war for independence : 
the same duplicity reigned over the negociations for peace." 
Thus we see from the records of the French cabinet, that 
the support afforded to the United States, in their struggle 
for independence, w^as the consequence of a base speculation ; 
that our rising gk)ry ofFended the ambitious views of France, 
that her ambassadors bore the criminal order of stopping the 
career of our prosperity ; and that her aids in arms and mo- 
ney v/ere given fi-om a desire to humble a rival power, and 
the better to assure her own relative greatness.. 

If we turn again to these instructions^ vre shall find in 
them designs no less inimical towards the United States^ 
than those ascribedio the ancient government. By them Mr- 
Genet is directed to employ every possible means to plunge 
us into the wzx per fas out nefas^ to assist in which object, 
he brought with him near a million of dollars, the last of 
wliich were drawn from their depositary on the very day hi^ 
successor, Fauchet, arrived at the seat of government. 

The^e facts no informed man will venture to call in ques- 
tion. The evidences of them constitute a part of our public 
iecords. They a^-e also matter of .history, and thus stand 
secure against the element of fire. 

We mention it with profound regret, that France, from tht 
time her influence in the councils of congress, obtained it\f 

* Vide hi& ii}stj;!;r't-''.'n?i , 



25 

sti'uctions to our ministers abroad, subjecting our precious 
Interests to her disposal, down to the present period, has 
maintained an influence in our country, the consequences ot' 
which may, if not guarded against by tlie people, prove 
fmally fatal to our prosperity and independence. 

" Perhaps" said the agent of Talleyrand to our ministers 
Pinkney, Marshall and Gerry, " you believe that in return- 
ing and exposing to your countrymen the unreasonaJ)!eness 
of the demands of this government, you will unite them in 
their resistance to these demands ; you are mistaken : you 
ought to know the diplomatic skill of France ; and the means 
she possesses in your country are sufficient to enable her, 
with the French party in America, to throw the blame which 
will attend the rupture of the negociation on xh^ fciUratists 
as you term yourselves, but on the Brithh party as France 
terms you^ 

It may not be improper to advance a little further in the 
elucidation of this point. The leading feature of the French 
party is the same in whatever country it exists. The Dutch 
patriots did not wish us to depart from our neutrality, lest it 
should interrupt the payment of the interest on their monies 
loaned to the United States : nevertheless at the instance of 
France^ they urged that we should not suffer the English to 
carry off with impunity from on board American vessels the 
property of Batavians, and invited us " to make common 
cause with them and the French republic, against the despo- 
tism of proud Albion." Mr. John Adams who transmitted 
the paper containing this demand upon our government, in a 
letter to the secretary of state, dated Hague, Nov. 4, 1796, 
observed, " The general disposition even of the pat- 
riotic party (the ^dxty m power) favours cordially and sin- 
cerely the neutrality of the United States. But they can 
have no avowed will different from that which may give sa- 
tisfaction to the government of France. They feel a depcif- 
dance so absolute and irremovahlc upon their good will, that 
».hey sacrifice every other inclination, and silence every other 
interest when the pleasure of the French government is si^» 



£6 

nified to them, in such manner as makes an election neces- 
sary." 

In a debate in the coimscil of elders, on the subject of im- 
ports, DupoNT, a leading member, said " Will not the 
Americans be dissatisfied to see ub treat their principle staple 
(tobacco) with this financial severity and punic infidelity. 
At what a moment are we inviting upon ourselves these 
charges ? at the time when Washington is retiring from pub- 
lic life, and his successor is to be named as the depositary of 
the execudve power. IVo parties divide that republic. One 
is attached to France by gratitude for her services ; the other 
ia attached to England. The latter obtained the advantage 
by txvo votes only on the discussion on the treaty of com- 
merce with England; and this was owing' to apolitical error 
of cur cxvn government. But the triumph of the English 
party, relative to the treaty, has rendered the French party 
more popular, and affords a strong hope of seeing the future 
president, the successor of Washington, chosen from the cit- 
izens rvho are known as the friends of France.^"* 

Who were the patriotic party in Flanders, Holland, Italy, 
Switzerland, &c. all those citizens who were devoted to 
France. What now is the state of these countries? They are 
cither dependent or constituent parts of the great empire. Ger- 
many and Prussia had also their patriots. Now Germany 
trembles within the grasp of Bonaparte, and Prussia scarce 
exists in name. Spain too had a patriotic party, who sent 
h.er own troops abroad and admitted into her bosom French 
armies : and what have not her people suffered, and, what 
may they not have yet to suffer from the acts of Uns patriotic 
party f 

That we have patriots in the United States, in the French 
acceptation of the term, is no less certain, than that Mr. 
Jefferson established Freneau's paper, Mr. Madison is pre- 
sident and Mr. Monroe secretary of state. 

When Genet was made acquainted with his recall, he ad- 
dressed a letter to Mr. Jefferson, dated 18th September, 
1793, in which he upbraids the secretary for " having ren- 



27 

dered himself the generous instrument of his recall, after 
having initiated him into mysteries which had inflamed his 
hatred against all those who aspire to absolute power." And 
again, in the same letter, cast in his teeth the imputation of 
having " an official language and a language confidential." 
These expressions proclaim how greatly he was hurt at 
the secretary lending his pen on this occasion, and that he 
considered the procedure as a defection from the cause. 

This abandonment, however, was not considered as real 
by his more prudent predecessor, Fauchet. This minister 
as appears from his intercepted letter, still reckoned Mr. Jef- 
ferson among the " patriots" (to use his own phrase) " wor- 
thy of that imposing title." 

Here it may be asked, why did Mr. Jefferson retire from 
office? The minister just mentioned says, "having fore^ 
seen certain crises, he prudently retired in order to avoid 
making a figure against his inclinations in scenes the secret 
of which will soon or late be brought to light." 

*' The western people," he obser\res in the same letter, 
" calculated on being supported by some distinguished cha- 
racters in the east, and even imagined they had in the bosom 
of the government some abettors who might share in their 
grievances or their principles." 

The crises alluded to in the letter, and foreseen by Mr. 
Jefferson, were obviously no other, than the unhappy events 
then passing or calculated to take place soon or late in ouf 
country. The western insurrection Mr. Fauchet avers, in 
this letter, was indubitably connected with a general explo- 
sion, but which, he observed, that local and precipitate erup- 
tion would cause to miscarry, or at least would check for a 
considerable time. He also states, that a gentleman of no 
common sagacity had presaged " either a revolution or civil 
war." The first he says " was preparing in the public mind," 
but the secret of the scenes which was soon or late to ha 
brought to light, he leaves to be conjectured from the pre- 
mises. "What think you, my countrymen, was the duty of 
^n American patriot at the helm of state having- a knowledge. 



In any dej^rce, of these matters about to happen ? \Vas it to 
withdraw in order to avoid making a figure against his incli- 
nations, or to have remained at his post, and occupied him- 
self in discountenancing or preventing their occurring? 
When Mr. Jefferson at length ascended to the presidency ,, 
good men remembering these things saw with surprise, a per- 
son who had figured in " these sceaes" called to fill one of the 
first offices in his gift. 

We find another proof, that his attachment to France re- 
mained unimpaired, in his celebrated letter to Mazzei, pub- 
lished at Florence, where Mazzei resided, and republished 
in the Moniteur in 1798. After enumerating the eneti^ies of 
liberty^ evidently including in the number General Washing- 
ton, and observing, that the mass of weight and riches of its 
defenders left them nothing to fear, to secure it, he adds, 
" It suffices that we arrest that system of ingratitude and in- 
histice towards France from which they would alienate us.'' 

To understand the full import of this passage, it will be 
proper to examine in what consisted our ingratitude to 
France. 

The whole of our debt for loans and supplies received 
from France in the American war, amounted to nearly fifty- 
three millions of livres. Of this debt the old congress dis- 
charged only two and an half millions, leaving fifty and an 
half millions to be provided for by the new government. It 
appears from documents published by order of the house of 
representatives in 1793 (a few weeks before Mr. Jefferson 
resigned) that the men he accused of ingratitude and injus- 
tice towards France, in the course of two years, by unceas- 
ing exertion, had paid up seven years arrearages and instal- 
feients of this debt, which the inefficacy of the old govern- 
ment had suffered to accumulate ; that it had l^cilitated to 
Mr. Genet, the instalment of 1793, to enable him to send 
relief to his fellow citizens in France, threatened with famine ; 
and, in the first moment of the insurrection, in the colony of 
Saint Domingo, had stepped forward to give rehef with arms 
and money. It appears further, by documents published by 



2^ 

order o£ the house of representatives in 1797, that the whole 
remaining debt was discharged by successive anticipations 
by tlie year 1795, notwithstanding teiimiiUons did not be- 
come due till within the years 1796 and 1802. All this was 
done while Washington was president, and Hamilton secreta- 
ry of the treasury; besides granting to France the exclusive 
admission to sell her prizes in our pons, though not stipulated 
for in our treaties, and unfounded in her own practice, or 
that of other nations. Do these acts savour of ingratitude 
and injustice towards France ? Certainly the contrary. 
Something else then must have been meant by Mr. Jefferson. 
The historian of the life of Washington has justly observ- 
ed, after a careful inspection of this great man's private pa- 
pers, and an impartial view of his public acts, that his " at- 
tachment to the French nation was as strong as consisted with 
a due regard to the interests of his own ', and his wishes for 
its happiness were as ardent as was compatible with the du- 
ties of a chief magistrate to the state over which he presid- 
ed." Washington had refused to use the words of Genet, to 
enter into " a true fami/i/ compact which was for ever to unite 
the political and commercial interests of the two people."* 
Washington had also declined to sanction with his name 
an agreement for ' the respective naturalization of the French 
and American citizens^ proposed by Mr. y^^rio/f, and desired 
by the French nation"! under the flimsy pretext " of ren- 
dering a reciprocal exemption from tonnage duty in the ports 
of France, and the United States less offensive to die pow- 
ers, who by virtue of treaties, would have had a right to 
claim a participation in the same advantages." Did these 
refusals to make of the two nations but one people, inspire 
the sentiment just quoted I Was this the ingratitude and 
injustice towards France it sufficed to arrest? 

* For this family compact wliich France wished to form with 
the United States, see Genet's letter to the secretary of state, 
dated September 18, 179a. 

^ t See part of instructions given by the French government to 
citizen Adet, and letter to secretary Randolph bv Mr. Adut. of 
1 2th JuJy, 1795. 



So 

An American patriot can be attached to no couutry but 
his own. All foreign attachments lead insensibly and sure- 
ly to subserviency to foreign interests. Hear on this point, 
the words of the great Washington, as delivered in his fare- 
%vell address : " As avenues to foreign influence, in innume- 
rable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to 
the truly enlightened and independent pcatriot. How many 
opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, 
to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion ; 
to influence or awe the public councils. Such an attach- 
ment towards a great and powerful nation, dooms the fav' 
mer to be the satellite of the latter,^^ 

How near the United States are to be the satellites of 
France, I leave every American to judge. 

In the French vocabulary, those citizens or subjects only 
of a foreign nation, devoted to France, are called patriots, 
all the others, partizans of England, monarchs or aristocrats. 
Minister Fauchet, in his intercepted letter, before noted, 
mentions three of these patriots in particular. After speaks- 
ing dispraisingly of certain persons who had balanced whether 
to join or oppose the western insurrection, he observes, " still 
there are patriots of whom I delight to entertain an idea 
worthy of that imposing title. Consult Monroe, he is of 
this number. He had apprised me of the men, whom the 
current of events had dragged along as bodies avoid of 
weight. His friend, Madison, is also an honest man. 
jErFERsoN, on whom the patriots cast their eyes to succeed 
the president, had foreseen these crises." 

Of Mr. Jeflerson's claim to this " imposing title," some 
may think we have aleady said enough. We should, how- 
ever, be unjust to' our subject, were we to omit a few other 
instances. 

While Mr. Jefferson, minister of the Unhed States, at 
Pavir, recommended a transfer of the debt due to France, 
to a company of Hollanders, who had proposed to purchase 
the same of France—Having stated the offer, he observes, 
^- If there is danger of the public payments J2ot being pimc- 



SI 

tuaff I submit v/hether it may not be better that the disccK- 
tents which xvould thence arise, should be transferred from a 
courty of whose g-ood will we have so much need, to the breasts 
of a private company.'* 

Congress referred the letter containing this iniquitous 
proposition, to the board of treasury, who in February, 1787, 
reported ; that, according to their ideas, the proposed trans- 
fer, was both unjust and impoUtk : unjust, because the na- 
tion would contract an engagement which there was no well 
grounded prospect of fulfilling ; impolitic, because a failure 
in the payment of the interest on the debt transferred (which 
was inevitable) would justly blast all hopes of credit with 
the citizens of the United Netherlands, in future pressing 
exigencies of the union : the board therefore, gave it as 
their opinion, that it would be advisable for congress, xvitk'- 
out delay, to instruct their minister, at the court of France, 
to forbear giving his sanction to any such transfer. Con- 
gress adopted the report, and instructed Mr. Jefferson ac- 
cordingly. 

I have never learned what was his reflections on this treat- 
ment of his plan for filling the French treasvuy, at the ex- 
pense of a Dutch company, and to the discredit of his coun- 
try. 

Again. By a resolution of the house of representatives, 
passed the 23d February, 1791, Mr. Jefferson, as secretarj^ 
of state, was directed to report to congress, " the nature 
and extent of the commercial intercourse of the United 
States with foreign nations, and the measures which he 
should think proper to be adopted for the improvement of 
the commerce and navigation of the same." 

After an interval of near three years, on the 16th Septem- 
ber, 1793, Mr. Jefferson delivered in his report. It was 
the last of his official acts, and not the least expressive o* 
his desire to arrest that system of ingratitude and injus- 
tice towards France, which he had so long and so unsuccess- 
fully resisted. 



32 

It will suffice to refer to a few particulars to point out its 
object and design. 

The report states, that our tobacco imported into Great 
Britain had paid one third sterling the pound, custom aad 
excise, besides heavy expens'es of collection, but omits to 
mention that the tobacco of all other countries paid three 
sixths, nearly treble that sum, although the book of rates, 
from which he derived the first fact, presented the second 
close by its side. 

In other parts of the report, where he is obliged to state 
a commercial regulation of Great Britain favourable to our 
country, he always accompanies it with some detractive qual- 
ification. Thus after stating that our exports to Great Bri_ 
tain and her dominions were twice as ^reat as to France and 
her dominions, he takes care to depreciate this advantage, 
by observing that the greater part of what the former re- 
ceived from us was re-exported to other countries. 

^ He lays great stress upon the exclusion of our vessels 
from the British West India islands, but omits altogether 
noticing their free admission into the British East Indies. 

He mentions the advantages we enjoy by the admission of 
our vessels into the French West Indies; but he is silent on 
the subject of their total exclusion from the French East 
Indies. 

He states that our xvoods are free of duty in Great Britain, 
while those of other countries pay only small duties, whereas 
the woods of other countries paid very high duties. 

He declared that France was ready to enter into a new 
commercial treaty on fair and equal principles, when it soon 
appeared, by the publication which Genet was induced to 
make of his instructions, that our becoming a party in the 
war, " a family compact" was to be the price of the proposed 
treaty. 

Hs recommended hostile measures against Great Britain, 
on the supposition, that, being on so good a footing v/ith us, 
in fact she w^^s Dot disposed to enter into a treaty | though 



33 

soon after his quitting the office of secretary of state, a com- 
mercial treaty was concluded with that nation. 

The writer from whom these facts are selected, very just- 
ly remarks on this project, that its operation would have 
been a phenomenon in politics and trade — a government 
attempting to aid commerce by throwing it into confusion; by 
obstructing the most essential channels in which it flowed, 
under the pretence of making it flow more freeh ; damming 
up the best inlet for the supplies which we wanted, by dis- 
turbing a beneficial course of things, in an experiment, pre- 
carious, if not desperate; by arresting the current of a pros- 
perous and progressive navigation, to transfer it to other 
countries, and by making all this mad zuork in the criminal 
attempt, to build up the manufacturers and trade of France at 
the expense of the United States* 

This project failed ; but the embargo and other acts re- 
strictive of our commerce and navigation afford melancholy 
evidence that its object has never been relinquished by its 
author. 

But enough, perhaps, of Mr. Jefferson, for the present. 
Let us now speak of the other two patriots^ Mr. JVIadison 
and Mr. Monroe, whom minister Fauchet delighted to con- 
template, as men " worthy of that imposing title." And 
first of 

MR. MADISOK 

The national Gazette has been already noticed ; and some 
circumstances respecting it detailed. We shall now mention 
the part Mr. Madison took in effecting its establishment. 
Mr. Freneau^ as before observed, was attracted from New 
York, where he had conducted the Freeman's Journal, be- 
longing to Childs and Swaine, to Philadelphia. His talents, 
as editor of a paper, were of course well known. We now 
state that the negociation, which induced him to remove to 
Philadelphia, including the salary of 200 dollars, for which 
be did nothing, was conducted by Mr. Madison, through a 
5 



u 

j;idy, with whose mother Mr. Madison thcu lodged. It be- 
ing no longer necessary to use conceah«ent respecting the 
parties to and particulars of this transaction, the documents, 
if the fact shall be denied by Mr. Madison, with some other 
correspondence, can be produced. 

In thi;5 newspaper, thus established by the Instrumentalitr 
of Mr. Madison, he was also a writer. To all the other pa- 
pers of the same kind, it gave the tone and subject. Against 
president Washington it was the most abusive ; in favour of 
Genet, the most conspicuous. 

Against the proclamation of neutrality, Mr. Madison like- 
%vise distinguished himself. In his pamphlet under the sig- 
nature of UelvidiuSy he endeavours to prove that the presi- 
dent had no authority to issue it, and that the people were 
under no obligation to obey it. How much Genet was pleas- 
ed with this performance, may be seen in his letter addressed 
to the secretary of state, on his recall, dated September 18, 
1793. " I will send no other justification to France of my 
conduct. I will join only in support of the opinious I meant 
to profess, some writings which have been published here, 
such as those of Veritas, Helvidius, Ssfc." 

The most known acts, in the order of time, which entitled 
IMr. Madison in the eye of Fmichet to the imposing name of 
Patriot, are his commercial resolutions. Their object being 
the same with Mr. Jefferson's commercial report, little 
need be added respecting them. Their advocates admitted 
they were meant to turn the course of trade from one nation 
to another, to pull doxvn England and build up France. To 
suggestions of the unknown consequences of such an opera- 
tion and that merchants, if left to themselves, would always 
find the best markets, Mr. Madison replied " there are the 
strongest reasons not to follow the mercantile opinion in this 
country : it might be die opinion of the very country of 
which we ought not to take council.''* He observed that " by 
diverting the trade ftora Great Britain to France, three h.ur- 

* ^Madison's speech ((lebatei") p. 62. 



35 

dred i/iot^sancl Bviiish maxixxisLciiircrsy who live by our cus- 
tom, would be driven to poverty and despair :" and made 
this observation with as much apathy as Mr. Jefferson exhi- 
bited, when to appease the fears his correspondent enter- 
tained of insurrections in case of the rejection of the consti- 
tution, he bid him be of good cheer, for that " one rebellion 
in thirteen states in the course of eleven years, is but one for 
each state in a century and a half." f 

These propositions were debated in congress from Janua- 
rv till the 3d of February 1 794, when after the first being 
agi-eed to, which IMr. Madison said decided nothing as to 
a discrimination between different nations, the contest was 
relinquished and the further consideration quietly permitted 
to be postponed. 

The agency which Mr, Madison has since had in reg'ula- 
img our commerce is too well known, and its consequences 
too extensively and severely felt to need either special no- 
tice or commentary. 

" Still there are patriots of whom I delight to entertain an 
idea worthy of that imposing title. Colonel Monroe^ he h 
of this number." 

MR. MONROE. 

Let us now examine the merits of the patriot. 

Mr. Morris, who had imprudently displeased the repub- 
lic of France, at the instance of the committee of safely wa-. 
recalled, and Monroe appointed to take his place. On tlie 
2nd of August, 1794, Mr. Monroe arrived in Paris. A de- 
cree of the national convention, dated 9th May, 1793, autho- 
rising the seisure of enemy's property in neutral vessels, was 
at this time in full operation. jNIr. JMorris had remons tra- 
ted against it as a violation of the 23d and 24th articles of our 
treaty of amity and commerce, and was endeavouring to 

t See a letter of his dated 20th December, 17S7, before quot- 



36 

i>rocure its repeal, v/lien he was superceded. The effects 
of this decree were complained of from one end of the union 
to the other. 

On the third of September, Mr. Monroe presented to the 
committee of public safety, his first state paper. In this he 
requests payment ol the claims of our citizens for supplies, 
compensation for the embargo at Bordeaux, and for the in- 
juries to our commerce, in consequence of the departure on 
their part, from the 23d and 24th articles of the treaty. On 
this last subject, after shewing by many pertinent remarks, 
that it was the interest of France to repeal the decree, he 
concludes with these remarkable words : " It is my duty to 
observe to you that I am under no instruction to complain of, 
or request a repeal of the decree authorising a departure from 
the 2od and 24th articles of the treaty of amity and com- 
merce; on the contrary, I well knoxv that if upon consider- 
ation^ after the experiment made^you should be of opinion, that 
it produces aJiy solid benefit to the republic ; the American 
government and my countrymen in general, ruill not only bear 
the departure xvith patience^ but xvith pleasure^"* 

On the 16th of October, he presented another note, in 
which he says " I shall add nothing respecting the contra- 
vention of ;he treat}', to change the principle upon which I 
rested it." What was that principle? Simply, that it was the 
interest of France to repeal the decree, and conform to the 
treaty ; but if the committee thought the good of France 
Mould be promoted by the decree, the United States would 
boar v/jth pleasure, whatever losses and exaction our com- 
merce should suffer, under its operation. 

Again at a conference with Merlin de Douay, Thuriot and 
Trei.lard, a diplomatic branch of the committee to which he 
was invited ; thjse gentlemen, after observing " that they 
were persuaded their compliance with the treaty would be 
useful to the United States, but ver}^ detrimental to them,'" 
asked Mr. Monroe, whether he insisted- on its execution, to 
which he replied, " he had ncdiing new to add to what he 
'^ >d already said on that head," Thus finally and explicitly 






conceding on his part, so far as he could concede, that these 
articles might be disregarded by France. 

So glaring a departure from his instructions, so barefaced 
a relinquishment of our rights, such an open encouragement 
of France in her system of perfidy and depredation, drew 
from the executive the following reprimand :* " You say 
that you have not been instructed to desire a repeal of the 
decree which violated the 23d and 24th articles of the treaty 
of commerce. That you did not know but it had been tole- 
rated from the soundest motives of political expedience, lest 
the demand for rescinding it, might produce a call for the* 
guarantee. Indeed you have gone further; having declared 
in your memorial, that you were under no instructions to 
complain of, or request the repeal of the decree authorising 
a departure from these articles, and, " that if upon re- con- 
sideration, after the experiment be made, the ccn:;inittee of 
public safety should be of opinion, that it produces any solid 
benefit to the French republic, the American government, 
and your countrymen in general, would not only bear the de- 
parture with patience, but with pleasure." 

" The fourth head of injury stated in your letter, shews 
that you was possesed of cases that turned entirely on the 
impropriety of the decree, and such too was certainly the 
fact. Now without the abrogation of the decree, so far as 
it respects those cases, the redress which you were instructed 
to demand, could not be obtained. In truth, there was no 
cause or pretence for ac-king relief, but upon the ground of 
that decree having violated the treaty. Docs not this view 
lead to the inevitable consequence that the decree, if opera- 
tive in future instances, would I)e no less dlsap-reeable, and 
consequently that its operation in future instances, ought to 
be prevented, a circumstance which could be accon}prished 
only by a total repeal ? The papers of the ship Laurens, con- 
tained a reference to one or more representations of Mr. 
Morris, against the decree ; so that the business had been 

* See Mr. Sncretary-s letter, rlatecl Sd December, i794. 



38 

actually brok&ii to the French government. Neither these 
representations, nor yet your application, appears to liave 
suggested a requisition of the guarantee. 

" But my good sir, let these things be as they will, was it 
necessary to intimate that an indifference prevailed in our 
government as to those articles, by a declaration tliat you 
were not instructed to complain of the decree ? I confess I 
am unapprised of the data upon which such an opinion could 
be founded ; and undoubtedly the president himself would 
not undertake that the people of the United States would 
bear with patience a departure from stipulations which are 
generally believed to be important to us." 

This gratuitous surrender of our commerce, by this minis- 
ter to the discretion of France, was succeeded by two other 
instances of condescention no less abject and disgraceful. 

Our government having determined before an appeal to 
arms, to address Great Britain in a solemn embassy upon 
the subject of our complaints, the secretary of state informed 
Mr. Monroe, that Mr. Jay, who was charged with this mis- 
sion, was " positively forbidden to weaken the engagements 
between this country and France, and that the motives of the 
mission were to obtain immediate compensation for our plun- 
dered property, and restitution of the posts." 
"" At an interview with the French diplomatic committee, 
bought and obtained by Mr. Monroe, as stated in his letter 
to secretary Randolph, dated the 2d December, 1794, he 
promised the committee most unnecessarily and improperly, 
to communicate to them the stipulations of the treaty nego- 
clated with Great Britain, as soon as they should be known 
to him, and not to be wanting in fulfilling this promise, be- 
fore the treaty could possibly have been sent to the United 
States, he dispatched a special messenger to London to ob- 
tain a copy for the express purpose of laijhig it before the 
French government. 

From the letters that passed between Mr. Jay and JMr. 
Monroe on this occasion, it appears, that Mr. Jay informed 
Mr. Monroe, that the treaty containei a declaration that it 



39 

shall not be considered, nor operate contrary to our existing 
treaties, and besides repeatedly offered to communicate to 
him confiddntially the particulars of the treaty, but that he 
refused to receive the information unless he was left at liber- 
ty to submit the whole to the inspection of the committee. 
In Mr. Monroe's last attempt to drav/ it from Mr. Jay, he 
observes " as nothing will satisfy this government but a copy 
of the instrument itself, and which as our ally, it thinks itself 
entitled to ; so it will be useless for me to make to it any 
new communication short of that. I mention this, that you 
may know precisely the state of my engagements here, and 
how I deem it my duty to act under them in relation to this 
object." 

In giving the letter of Mr. Jay entire, in answer to this 
application, I am sure I shall please my readers of whatever 
party, who still retain the feelings natural to Americans. It 
is in the following words : 

*' Sir — I have received the letter you did me the honour 
to write on the 17th of last month by Mr. Purviance. 

" It is much to be regretted that any unauthorised accounts 
in English newspapers of my adjustment with the British 
administration, should have excited much uneasiness in the 
councils of the French government ; and the more so, as it 
does not imply that confidence in the honour and good faith 
of the United States, which they certainly merit. You must 
be sensible that the United States as a free and independent 
nation, have an unquestionable right to make any pacific 
arrangements with other powers which mutual convenience 
may dictate ; provided those arrangements do not contra- 
dict or oppugn their prior engagements with other states. 

Whether this adjustment was consistent with our treaty 
with France, struck me as being the only question which 
could demand or receive the consideration of that republic ; 
and I thought it due to the friendship subsisting between the 
two countries, that the French government should have, 
without delay, the most perfect satisfaction on that head. I 
therefore, by tliree letters, viz. the 24th, 25th, and 28th of 



4o 

November, 1^94, gave you what I hoped would be very ac- 
ceptable and satisfactory information on that point : I am 
happy in this opportunity of giving you an exact and literal 
extract from- the treaty ; it is in these words, viz. 

'' Nothing in this treaty contained, shall however be con- 
strued or operate contrary to former or existing public trea- 
ties with other sovereigns or states." 

" Considering that events favourable to our country could 
not fail to give you pleasure, I did intend to communicate to 
you concisely some of the most interesting particulars of 
this treaty, but in the most perfect confidence. As that in- 
strument has not yet been ratified, nor received the ultimate 
forms to give it validity; as further questions respecting 
parts of it, may yet arise and give occasion to further dis- 
cussions and negociations, so that if finally concluded at all, 
it may then be different from what it now is, the impropriety 
of making it public, at present, is palpable and obvious. 
Such a proceeding would be inconvenient and unprecedented. 
It does not belong to ministers who negociate treaties to 
publish them, even when perfected, much less treaties not 
yet completed, and remaining open to alteration or rejection ; 
such acts also belong exclusively to the governments who 
form them. 

" I cannot but flatter myself that the present gevernment 
is too enlightened and reasonable, to expect that any consi- 
deration ought to induce me to overlook the bounds of my 
authority, or to be negligent of the respect which is due to 
the United States. That respect and my ohl'igations to oh- 
nerve it, will not permit me to ghe, rvithout the permission oj 
their government, a copy of the instrument in question to any 
person, or for any purpose ; and by no vieans for the purpose 
of being submitted to the consideration and judgment of the 
councils of a foreign nation, hoyvever friendly. I will, sir. 
take the earliest opportunity of transmitting a copy of your 
letter to me, and of this anszver to the secretary of state, and 
will immediately and punctually execute such orders and in- 
&f ructions as I may receive on the Subject. 



41 

It mast occur to every person the least conversant with 
the views of France, that so great was her hostility to Great 
Britain, that no treaty whatever which arranged our differ- 
ences with that nation, could have been acceptable, and that 
her eagerness to obtain a copy of the instrument, had no 
other object than to enable her to interfere, with effect, in 
our national contracts. When had France exhibited to the 
president any of her treaties before or after their ratification ? 
What gave to France a right to demand from the United 
States, what the United States had no right to demand of 
France ? 

This unsuccessful attempt on Mr. Jay, did not abate his 
ardour to procure for the French committee, a sight of this 
treaty. When major Pinckney was at Paris, on his way to 
Madrid, Mr. Monroe represented to him, that France was 
inclined to give them every aid to forward his negociation 
with Spain, if he would desire it, and also satisfy the com- 
mittee respecting the treaty negotiated with Great Britain 
As one of the conditioi^s of this proposed aid was the dis- 
closure of the treaty, Mr. Pinkney influenced by the rea- 
fions which operated on Mr. Jay, refused to shew the treatv, 
and of course, to ask the aldoi France in his negotiation. 

In these attempts to obtain a copy of the treaty, we can 
only see a fixed determination to defeat it. Such patriotism 
would be discredited by many i did the proofs depend on 
other evidence than his own. " We are made fast," said 
he, on his return from France, " by treaty and by the spirit 
of those at the helm, to a nation bankrupt in its resources 
and rapidly verging either to anarchy or despotism."* 

On the 30th of November, 1794, in a letter to Mr. Ran- 
dolph, secretary of state, he observes, I was invited by the 
diplomatique members of the committee of pubUc safety, to 
a conference on a new topic. I was informed it was their 
intention to press the war against England, in particular, but 
that they were distressed for funds, and was asked could any 

* See his view of the conduct of the extcutiye, p, 66. 
6 



42 

aid be obtained from the United States. I told him, / turn 
satisfied^ if it was in their power ^ it would he rendered} 
that I possessed no power on the subject, and could only 
advise on the probability, &c. but with their permission, I 
would put on paper such ideas as occurred to me in respect 
to that point, and upon which I would afterwards more fuUy 
confer," &c. He continues : 

" No other arrangement can well be made, than that of 
lending money to France, if in our power ; it being under' 
stood she will secure, at the time of her own peace the com- 
plete recognition of our rights from Britain and Spain, and 
which she may easily do, in my judgment, and without pro- 
longing the war a moment on that account," &c. He next 
extols the power and successes of France, and then adds. 
" In any ev^ent it will produce such effect, that if America 
strikes the blow her oxvn interest dictates, and every other 
consideration prompts, it must be decisive ; and if not ruin- 
ous to the fortunes of that proud and insolent nation, will 
certainly procure us the objects we have in view." 

The following is an extract from the paper he promised 
the committee. " It is the wish of the French republic to 
obtain by loan a sum of money from the United States of 
America, to enable it to prosecute the war. This is to be 
expected from three sources ; the general government, the 
slate governments, and from individuals. The French cause 
and the French nation are greatly regai-ded in America, and 
I am persuaded some mo?iey may be obtained and perhaps c 
very respectable sum from the three socurces above mention- 
edi For this purpose the minister should possess power to 
malce loans from either of the above parties, and to give 
such security as the republic shall deem suitable," &c. 

He states in one of his letters, the loan wanted would be 
five millions of dollars, and in his justificatory letter of the 
12th of 'February, 1795, he says " at that time, I had rea- 
son to believe, that it (France) contemplated to take under its 
care and provide for our protection against Algiers, for 
the expulsion of the British from the western posts, and the 



43 

establishment of our rights with Spain, to the free naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi." 

This recommendation to our government to strike a blo\v 
which would be ruinous to Great Britain, you will observe, 
was made l)endi.n(r the negotiation with that power. Conse- 
quently war with Great Britain was preferred to the most ad- 
vantageous arrangement: The loan too which he recommend- 
ed v/as actually a war measure, because a loan could not 
have been made to either belligerent, without a violation of neu- 
trality. But this is not the worst aspect of the subject. Mr. 
Monroe at the time he encouraged the French republic in 
a project to obtain a loan from the United States, to enable 
her to prosecute the war, had in his possession, Mr. Ran- 
dolph's letter, dated June 10th, 1794, in which the secretary 
expressly tells him, " we are unable to give her aids of men 
or jnoney." What but the most ardent devotion to France, 
or a degree of insanity could have compelled him to violate 
this instruction, and how could he be persuaded with his 
instr uctions in his pocket, that " the people would cheerfully 
bear a tax, the product of which was to be applied in aid 
of the French republic." And what was the equivalent 
we were to receive from France, for this surrender of our 
neutrality, and placing our rights in her keeping ? What we 
have attained without her assistance. France forsooth was to 
procure for us, when she should make peace, the navigation 
of the Mississippi, the western posts, to provide for our pro- 
tection against Algiers. Consequently, become a depen^ 
dent, we must have administered to the war, to our last 
cent, have remained during its progress without compensa- 
tion for spoliations on our commerce, deprived of the west- 
ern posts, and excluded from the Mississippi, and at length 
when peace should take place, be disposed of by France, ac- 
cording to the state of things, at the 7noment, or the view and 
interest of the preponderating power. 

I shall now advert to some facts common to these three 
patriots. Mr. Monroe at the time we are speaking of, acted 
in concert with Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison. Their 



44 

system was Ins system, their policy, his politics* No com« 
lYiercial treaty with Great Britain was a dogma with all, and 
with each of them. When Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison 
got into power, the one as president, the other as secretary 
o!l state, they still adhered to this system. 

Mr. Madison in his dispatch to Mr. Monroe, dated 5th 
March, 1804, after observing that the commercial articles of 
the treaty, of 1794, with Great Britain, had expired, and 
making some remarks on the trade to the £ast and West' 
Indies^ proceeds to tell him that he does not offer " these 
observations with a view to any negotiations whatever, lead-* 
ing at the present moment, to a treaty on those or any other 
commercial points,^'' From the same letter it appears, "the 
commercial intercourse between the tv/o countries, was to 
be left to the regulations which the parties separately might 
think fit to establish." 

Again, in a conversation between lord Harrowby and 
Mr. Monroe, as given in a dispatch from the latter to Mr. 
Madison, dated August 7th, 1804, Lord Harrowby asks, 
~^' the commercial part of the treaty being considered as ex- 
pired, what is the subsisting relation bet\7een the two coun- 
tries ? Are we in the state we were at the close of the Ame- 
rican war I By v/hat rule is our intercourse to be governed 
respecting tonnage, imports, and the like?" To this Mr» 
Monroe replied, " the laxv in each country would regulate 
these points.'' Lord Harrowby wished to know how far it 
would be agreeable to our goverment to stipulate that the 
treaty of 1794, should remain in force until two years should 
expire after the conclusion of the present war ? To this Mr. 
Monroe answers, " He had no power to agree to such pro- 
posal, that the president, animated by a sincere desire to 
cherish and perpetuate the friendly relations subsisting be- 
tween the two countries was disposed to postpone the regula- 
tion of their general commercial system till peace. 

The consequences of this new way of " perpetuating the 
friendly relations subsisting between the two countries," by 
postponing commercial regulations to a time of peace, be^an 



4,5 

soon to be felt, and by the year 1806 drew forth a call upon 
government from all parts of the union, for an arrangement 
with Great Britain, of the principles of navigation and com- 
merce. 

Not daring to resist the strength of this current, the cabi- 
net seemed to give way; and in April 1806, appointed Mr. 
Monroe and Mr- Wm. Pinkney commissioners extraordina- 
ry and plenipotentiary, " to settle all matters of difference be- 
tween the United States and the united kingdom of Great 
Britain and Ireland, relative to wrongs, comm.itted between 
the parties on the high seas or other waters, and for estab- 
lishing the principles of navigation and commerce between 
them." On the 27th of December, 1806, the commissioners 
informed Mr. Madison : " We have this day agreed with 
the British commissioners to conclude a treaty on all the 
points which had formed the object of our negotiation, and 
on terms which we trust our government will approve." 

We all know the result of this accommodation. The treaty 
was rejected by Mr. 'Jeff'erson,, almost as soon as read, and 
returned to the commissioners without being submitted to 
the senate : who, it is probable, would have consented and 
advised to its ratification. 

The current, which had produced this deceptions mission, 
having abated, the new instructions to the commissioners, 
proposed such modifications and alterations as effectually 
precluded all possibility of any arrangement whatever with 
Great Britain,* while they held out in smooth and flattering 
expressions, a sincere and anxious wish for a friendly and 
speedy arrangement of all matters in dispute. 

" It is usual among christian people at war," said the ven- 
erable Franklin, in a letter addressed to Richard Oswald, 
the English negotiator, " to profess always a desire of 
peace. But if ministers of one of the parties choose to in- 
sist particularly on a certain article which they have known, 
the others are not, and cannot be empowered to agree to, 

* See Mr. Madison's letter to Blessrs. Blonroe and Pinkney, 
flated 20th May, 1807, &c. &c, &c. 



46 

what credit can they expect should be given to such profes- 
sions.*'* 

I shall add to this article, a circumstance which glances at 
a secret, which our cabinet has in vain attempted to conceal, 
which for years past has afflicted our country and dictated 
the measures of a weak and confiding Congress. Mr. Mon- 
roe when minister at the court of London in a letter, dated 
October 3d, 1804, to 'vir. Madison, observes, " matters are 
arrived at that state, the president may either, in a few 
months, renew negotiation, or act with moderation^ till the 
occasion invites to a more decisive and hazardous policy^''* 
What is meant by this " more decisive and hazardous poli- 
cy ?" Does it consist in the measures since adopted, that 
have brought upon our country so many misfortunes ? 

When Mr. Jefferson advised congress to pass the embargo 
act, our capital amounted to 200,000,000 dollars, since which a 
great part of this capital has been swallowed up by the pira- 
cies, sequestrations and reprisals of Bonaparte. In 1807" 
(the date of the embargo) our revenue was equal to sixteen 
millions of dollars. In 1808 it was reduced to 10,000,332 
dollars. In 1809 it was further reduced to 6,500,000 mak- 
ing a difference of 9,500,000 dollars in this short period, 
and, as we proceed, all revenue derivable from trade, must 
soon be wholly at an end. 

In 1807, the English orders in council left ports open to 
the United States, which received of our domestic produce 
38,937,388 dollars, and of foreign produce carried in our 
shipping 24,140,495 dollars, making an aggregate exporta- 
tion amounting to 63,077,883 dollars ; a commerce greater 
and more extensive, than any we can calculate upon in time 
of peace. 

The reports of Mr. Gallatin, from which these facts are 
drawn, further shew, that in 1806, the year preceding the 
embargo, there remained of revenue, after defraying all the 
expenses of government, a surplus of five and an half millions 

* See the letter dated Passj, November 26, 178S. 



47 

of dollars ; but that the present year, instead of possessing 
this revenue, requires a loan of four millions of dollars to 
meet only the customary peace expenses of government. 

Mr. Robert Smith, a co-operator in the measures, that 
have produced these effects, in an address to the people of 
the United States, explanatory of the causes, which occasion- 
ed his resignation of the office of secretary of state, has ex- 
hibited such an internal view of the cabinet at Washington, 
as cannot fail to alarm the least thoughtful and destroy the 
faith of the most confiding. His disclosures confirm all 
that is here said or suggested. No one can rise from reading 
them, and not assent to Fauchet's encomium, in the French 
acceptation of the phrase, " that Mr. Madison is a patriot 
worthy of that imposing title." 

As the address will, no doubt, be perused by most of you, 
I shall only select from it the following particulars. 

1st. That the Erskine affair was a cabinet intrigue^ in 
which the ex-secretary himself, as would seem, was made to 
play the part of the dupe. That he did not see Mr. Ers- 
kine's instructions in extenso^ but insinuates that they were 
not unknown to Mr. Madison, and Mr. Gallatin. That 
Mr. Madison caused to be added to the ratification of the 
agreement, on the part of the United States, a sentence, 
casting foul dishonour in the teeth of the British monarch, 
calculated to inflame every artery and vein of the king and 
nation, and in itself sufficient, in case Erskine's departure 
from his instriictions had failed, to insure the rejection of 
the agreement. 

The inference the ex-secretary leaves to be drawn from 
this disclosure, is, that our cabinet will negociate with Great 
Britain, whenever a purpose is to be answered, but will al- 
ways provide against a ratification. 

2nd. It appears that Macon's bills. No.. 1, and No. 2, 
were children of Mr. Madison's political system, conveyed 
by a secret and special contrivance, into the hands of Mr. 
Macon, by which means Mr. Madison fixed upon others, all 
the odium of measures, which, in the words of the secre- 



48 

tary, '' vveic alike regardless of the prosperity and of the 
hoiiour of the United States." 

3d. The non-intercourse law of the last session, the ex-= 
secretary states to be also a device of Mr. Madison, and, 
that its enactment was procured by his machinery after the 
arrival of the French minister Serrurier at Washington, and 
after Mr. Madison was fully assured Bonaparte had not and 
would not comply with his part of the compact. 

4th. That Mr. Smith communicated to Mr. Madison 
the result of a conversation he had with Serrurier on this sub= 
ject, with the draft of a letter to that minister, which with 
his answer thereto, would have put the information on record; 
but to his astonishment, was told by Mr. Madison, it would 
not be expedient to send to Mr. Serrurier any such note. 
Notwithstanding this impulse, the ex-secretary alledges 
'* having nothing in viev/ but the dignity of the government 
and prosperity of his country," he intreated him " not to 
withhold from congress any information that might be 
useful to them at so momentous a juncture." The infor- 
mation was withheld notwithstanding this remonstrance^ 
and the non-intercourse bill, which had been suspended for 
information from France, passed into a law. 

5th. All of you may not have at hand the duke of Ca- 
dore's letter to general Armstrong, dated the 14th of Febru- 
ary, 1810. The following extract from it may serve to re* 
yn'md. you of its nature : 

-'• His majesty could place no reliance on the proceedings 
of the United States, who having no ground of complaint 
against France, comprised her in their acts of exclusion, 
and since the 'month of May, have forbidden the entrance of 
their ports to French vessels under the penalty of confisca- 
tion. As soon as his majesty was informed of this measure, 
he considered himself bound to order repi-isals on American 
vessels not only in his territory, but likewise in the countries 
which are under his influence. In the ports of Holland, 
of Spain, of Italy, and of Naples, American vessels have 
been seized, because the Americans have seized French ves- 



49 

sels. The Americans cannot hesitate, as to the part which 
they are to take. They ought either to tear to pieces the act 
of their independence^ and to become again, as before the 
revolution, the subjects of England^ or to take such mea- 
sures as that their commerce and industry should not be 
tariffed by the English, which renders them more dependent 
than Jamaica, which at least, has its assembly of representa- 
tives, and its privileges. Men without just political viewSy 
toithout honour^ without energy^ may alledge that payment 
of the tribute imposed by England, may be submitted to, 
because it is light ; but why will they not perceive that the 
English will no sooner have obtained the admission of the 
principle, than they will raise the tariff in such way that the 
burthen at first light, becoming insupportable, it will then be 
necessary to fight for interest, after having refused to fight 
for honour." 

To this extraordinary dispatch, the ex-secretary ordered 
the draught of an answer for general Armstrong, which the 
president would not permit to be sent to him. You will see 
when you i-ead this letter, as reported in his pamphlet, that 
while the ex-secretary respects the dignity, and upholds the 
rights of his insulted country, he overlooks none of the ob- 
servations of decorum. It thus concludes, " these observa- 
tions you will not fail to present to the view of the French 
governinent, in order that the emperor may learn, that the 
United States insist upon nothing but their acknowledged 
rights, and that they still entertain a desire to adjust ad dif- 
ferences with the government of France, upon a basis 
equally beneficial and honourable to both nations." 

Instead of this letter so mild and yet so proper, Mr. Ma= 
dison directed no other notice to be taken of the duke's, 
than the following paragraph, which was added to another 
letter, of the 5th of June, 1810. 

" As the John Adams is daily expected, and as your fur« 
ther communications by her, will better enable me to adapt 
to the actual state of our affairs with the French government, 
?he observations proper to be made in relation to their sei- 



50 

2ure of our property, and to the letter of the duke of Ca- 
dore, of the 14th February, it is by the president deemed 
expedient Jiot to make^ at this thne^ any such animadversions. 
/cannot, however, forbear hiformmg you^ that a high indig- 
nation is felt by the president as well as by the public, at 
this act of violence on our property, aiid at the outrage, 
both in the language and in the matter, of the letter of the 
duke of Cadorc, so justly portrayed in your note to him, 
of the 10th of March." 

I shall notice but another item, as no doubt all who read 
this, will readP^Ir. Smith's address to the people of the Unit- 
ed States. 

6th. The ex-secretary, Mr. Madison, without any ap- 
propriation or sanction by law, directed Mr. Erving, United 
States agent, in London, to retain for his services, 22,392 
dollars out of monies the property of individuals, for claims 
allowed under the British treaty ; and that this extra com- 
pensation, was not for extra services ; but for the express 
services for which, a salary of 2,000 dollars, was originally 
allowed. 

Such my fellow citizens, is a part of the confessions of this 
^ x-secretary. I was about to express a regret, that he had 
deemed it expedient to conceal others of equal, if not great- 
er magnitude : but more confessions were unnecessary, tc» 
shew the policy of his principal, and his just claims, in the 
Fi-ench acceptation of the term, to the imposing title oi pat- 
riot. 

To what a sad situation is our country reduced ; plun- 
dered of its property, without any manly effort to protect it, 
cramped in its industry, and not daring to complain, shack- 
led in its commerce, and joining in measures to destroy it ; 
sunk in its character, and courting its dcfamer; the govern- 
ment itself, the shadowy form of independence, floating or. 
the waves of uncertain events. 

Such is the picture it presents. If the people are satisfied 
with it, the l^ord have mercy upon us. We are given up 
^o Bonaparte. Wc are devoted to destruction I 

But the people will not conspire in tlriiv own destruction ; 



51 

they are not yet become the degraded tools and passive 
instrument of Bonaparte. They have twice saved the country 
with t 'r'ashin^ton attheir head, once in \yar, and once in peace; 
and under providence, they will save it a third time ! 

I have now performed in part, what I proposed. These 
facts, or 1 am greatly mistaken, fully explain the series ot 
causes which have led to the present state of things. It re- 
mains, therefore, only to shev/, by v/hat means our country 
may regain the station it has lost. 

You perceive a community which has been artfully di- 
vided into political sects by the assistance of a few v.ords 
and phrases of perverted meaning. You now know for a 
certainty who are the introducers and propagators of these 
words and phrases You find your commerce gone, your 
revenue nearly destroyed, and much of your propart}'' in 
the hands of Bonaparte. You are also acquainted with 
the measures by which these effects M'erc produced. And 
you are no longer ignorant of the men whose advice and 
management procured them. You have observed three of 
the most prominent statemen designated as the peculiar fa- 
vourites of France, and you have witnessed how well these 
individuals have justified the distinction. Without bringing 
these things fully to view, I should not have fulfilled the task 
I had undertaken. But I judge — I condemn no one. I 
have not dared to enquire into motives- God forbid I 
should assume a faculty which belongs only to God. I have 
laid before you facts, not with the view to furnish matter 
for abuse or censure, but to prove to you the necessity of in- 
fusing into your state government, while yet in your power, 
a new spirit, and new principles. If you wish a change in 
the measures of the general government, it is here you 
must begin the change. 

The Senate of Maryland once filled a great space in the 
public estimation. It numbered among its members, names 
still dear to their countrj^ May tb.e angels who presides over 
the destines of INIarvland be permitted lo Inspire you to chusf* 
for electors, such men as will elect Senators wortb.y to f:! 
h? seats once occuDied bv those estimable cbaracirrs' 



52 

Our State Constitution lays down the rule to be observed 
on this occasion. It ordains that those having a right of suf- 
frage shall chuse for electors of the senate " the most wise, 
sensible and discreet of the people" and that the persons thus 
elected should in their turn chuse for senators " men of the 
most wisdom, experience and virtue." 

The Constitution summons, good men of every part}' to 
lend their aid in making this selection. It calls upon them 
to unite for this object. It is for them to explain to the un- 
informed and misguided, the safety to the republic in a vir- 
tuous and experienced Senate. The poor wise man knows, 
that to him as well as to the rich, good la ws are a bles- 

Are any ignorant that it is on the individual state govern- 
ment the general government is erected, and that if the for- 
mer are undermined the latter must be proportionably affect- 
ed ? To keep the foundation work sound and entire, is to 
keep the general government sound and in full strength. To 
preserve the latter in this condition, besides the universal ob- 
ligation upon every citizen to promote the public good, our 
Constitution particularly enjoins that voters shall chuse for 
electors ''the most wise, sensible and discreet of the people," 
and that electors shall chuse for senators " men of the most 
wisdom, experience and virtue." Every voter and elector 
therefore who observes a different rule, violates the Constitu- 
iion and disregards a solemn obligation. 

To you my fellow citizens the inestimable right of suffrage 
belongs. If it has been sullied by any base practices, restore 
it to its purity. It is the spirit of the Constitution with which 
Tind with every part of which, it holds an indissoluble union. 
It is the fountain from which flows all good laws. If cor- 
rupted, all the streams which flow from it must be corrupt- 
ed also. 

In every case like the present, where a great effort is re» 
quired, no virtuous citizen can remain inactive or indiffer- 
;::)t. Men without exception are bound to promote by all 



5S 

justifiable means the happiness of the society of which they are 
members. To disregard this law, is to dissolve society. In 
every community the good are mixed with the bad. Among 
the latter there is a constant effort to encroach upon the 
rights of the former. For this reason society has a double 
claim on the exertions of the good, in carrying on the great 
work of government, which is social happiness. A good 
man, therefore, fails in his duty whenever through inaction 
he permits an evil to take root in the republic, or throws 
upon others a burden which he himself ought to have borne. 
Does any one wish to withdraw his shoulder from the bur- 
den, let him suspect the soundness of his patriotism. Pat- 
riotism is an active virtue : its principle, honour ; the consti- 
tution its rule ; the choice of good men its object, and the 
welfare of the state the end of its operations. To vote, is an 
appointed service all have to perform ; and the election 
ground the place to perform it. Patriotism, like wisdom, is 
gentle and easy to be entreated, full of good fruits, without 
partiality and without hypocrisy. It is gentle ; it deals in no 
unmerited censures ; it abounds in forbearance, and would 
win men over to its side, more by courtesy than by crabbed- 
ness. It lends a willing ear to advice, and receives Informa- 
tion with a sincere desire to turn it to advantage. It is full 
of good fruits. It does not yield to criminal torpor, to luke- 
warmness or indifference in times that require zeal and ex- 
ertion ; it serves the holy cause of the constitution, not with 
its lips merely, but in works as well as in words. It is with- 
out partiality. It draws no needless or unwarrantable dis- 
tinctions between candidates; it renders equal justice to 
competitors, in proportion to their respective merits. It is 
without hijpocrisy. It puts on no delusive exterior ; it Is a 
steadfast observer of truth. It will submit to lose what it 
most desires, rather than gain it by falsehood, prevarication, 
deception or dishonest dealing. 

We are told by the highest authority, " it is good to be 
zealously affected in a good tb.ing." Shew j-ourselves there- 
fore zealous for tlie election of good men into our public 



54 

councils ; but let your zeal be free from indiscretion, intoUe- 
rance or enthusiasm. Genuine zeal is of a different charac- 
ter. It is fearless, yet offends not ; strenuous, yet mild ; 
steadfast, yet meek ; earnest, yet prudent. It is known by 
its effects. It stimulates to virtuous exertion. It renders 
him who feels it, more capable of resisting whatever obsta- 
cle may arise to obstruct the fair exercise of his right ; more 
constant in pursuing the path pointed out by the constitution, 
more desirous of directing his views to the characters which 
it designates, than to foixe the election of men designated 
by a party. 

V/hoever is indifferent on this subject, let him suspect the 
soundness of his patriotism. Can the man who loves his 
country, refuse one day's labour in five years for its benefit ? 
Some are so unfortunate as always to be indisposed on the 
day of election. Others from an unexpected occurrence of 
business which never fails to occur, on that day, cannot pos- 
sibly attend. This one stays at home to favour some pitiful 
interest. That one is seized with such an unaccountable fit 
of laziness as to unfit him for motion. Others are ahvays 
absent on a little journey or excursion v/hich could not be post- 
poned ; and there are those, to whom a few threatening clouds, 
a little rain, a lame horse, a broken shin or a tooth ache serve 
as a standing apology for a neglect and contempt of one of 
the most important of their civil obligations. Is this " be- 
ing zealously affected in a good thing ?" Is this fulfilling the 
duty of a good citizen ? Is this observing the constitution ? 

If citizens will neglect their stipulated services, and re- 
main at home on such occasions, relying on the patriotic ef- 
forts of the majority, to keep things right, v/hat security can 
they give to the republic, that the vices instead of the vir- 
tues of the community, shall not preponderate. For a little 
:3c'if-indulgence, to avoid a slight exertion, a walk or ride of 
a few miles, they will put at risk the benefit of civil liberty^ 
and all the untold blessings that result from equal laws. To 
do nothing in such a case, to remain at home, and inactive, is 
something vrorse than being useless. Is the safety of our 



b5 

country, the object of your regard ? Do the evils under 
which it labours, and the calamities impending over it, give 
vou no disquietude ? Do the privileges you may exercise 
under the constitution, excite no anxiety for their preser- 
vation ? Can the constitution be preserved, if the right of 
suffrage be neglected ? It requires you to select " the most 
wise, sensible and discreet of the people for electors of the 
senate." Can you do this by staying at home ? Away then 
with all trivial excuses. Claim your rights, appear at the 
polls in your several election districts, and vote as the con- 
stitution enjoins ; and leave the issue to the author of all 
good, and punisher of evil. 

When arrived at the polls, be vigilant to detect, and re. 
solute in repelling every attempt to corrupt the source of 
our liberty, by the introduction of illegal votes. There are 
creatures so devoid of reflection or so shamefully depraved, 
as to make a merchandize of the most important article in 
the inventory of the rights of Freemen. In all such trans- 
actions, the seller and the buyer, are equally guilty of a crime 
against liberty, and the constitution. There are men also, 
who do not scruple, in borrowed dresses to vote, when not 
prevented by the vigilance of bye-standers, oftener than 
once, and some judges of elections are said to have shut 
their eyes to such criminal practices. Let such remember, 
if such there be, that in all these cases, judges may be pro- 
secuted, and the offenders punished. 

Having used your best exertions to carry the intention of 
our constitution into effect, and done every thing in your 
power, to prevent the reign of evil, though all should prove 
unavailing, still there will remain this touching satisfaction, 
that you have not trenched upon the constitutional rights, 
nor been indifferent and unconcerned at the situation of your 
country, or sacrificed its interest at the shrine of a party, 
to keep or to place unworthy men in power. Yours, there- 
fore, will be the merit, yours, the reward of fidelity to the 
laws ; and the enviable recolkction, of having done yor.r 
duty. 

PINT 5, 



'■"!• h] \ . / 



- ^ } 4 1.';. >s '\//,r ft/i iMlim 




